Apparatus for conveying articles and, in particular, articles supported on hooked members are used in various industries. For example, articles conveyed in an assembly line are frequently supported on hooked members, wherein the hooked members are carried by a conveyor so that the articles can be used or worked on in the assembly line.
It has been difficult, however, to automatically count the hooked members or articles on a conveyor, or to automatically keep track of the position of each hooked member or article on a conveyor. It has also been difficult to automatically release predetermined articles from a conveyor into predetermined locations. For example, if the position of each article on a conveyor is not accurately determined, then the articles can be automatically released into the wrong locations.
In laundry and dry cleaning facilities, the hooked members are hangers and the articles are garments supported on the hangers. Typically, several hundred garments are placed on hangers and loaded onto a sorting conveyor. There are several drop-off stations located at various points along the sorting conveyor which are adapted to receive the garments prior to delivery to the customers. The garments are sorted by moving the sorting conveyor and by delivering each garment into a predetermined drop-off station. The sorted garments located at one or more drop-off stations are loaded into trucks for delivery to the customers.
The position of each garment on the sorting conveyor can be registered in a computer. The computer can then be used to prepare a specific sorting sequence for delivering the garments into the respective drop-off stations. It has been difficult, however, for such systems to automatically and accurately determine the position of each garment as it reaches its predetermined drop-off station. If the position of the garment is not accurately determined, the garments can be delivered to the wrong drop-off stations.
It has also been difficult to accurately count the successive garments as they pass each drop-off station. If the garments are not accurately counted, the garments can likewise be delivered to the wrong drop-off stations.